Memories of Childhood
Zitkala-Sa and Bama
The Cutting of My Long Hair
Zitkala-Sa
This story is about the discrimination that native Indians faced in America. They were subjected to all kinds if ignominies. In this story Zitkala-Sa is literally made prisoner by the Americans. All the Indians in the camp were given similar treatment. They were forced to eat according to a ritual which was too mechanised to take the joy out of eating.
Keeping long hairs is considered to be a matter of pride for the Indians. But the Americans chopped their long hairs. It was believed by the Indians that short hairs were suitable only for the coward. They also thought tonsuring of hairs was meant for a person in mourning.
Zitkala-Sa refuses to toe the line and decides to resist every attempt to kill her unique identity, befitting a native Indian American. When Zitkala-Sa tries to hide under the bed, she is promptly caught by the guards. After that she is tied to a chair and her hairs are chopped, leaing her in deep anguish. Bot noone comes to cosole her, the way her mother used to do when she was alive.
We Too are Human Beings
Bama
This story is about the ostracisation faced by Dalits in India. This is an excerpt from Kurukku, the autobiography by the author. During her childhood, she tries to savour every moment of joy a child can. While going through the bazaar, she enjoys seeing various activities, like acrobatics of monkeys, tricks of snake charmers, shopkeepers shouting to sell their wares, etc. She also sees a landlord sitting on a stone slab, supervising labourers busy in threshing the harvest. After that, she watches the way an elder from her caste comes with a packet of vadai, wrapped in banana leaf. The man is holding the packet with a thread so that his hands cannot touch vadai or the packet. This shows the height of untouchability. After that, the man bows in reverence and hands over the packet to the landlord. Bama feels sad and angry at this site. She does not like the idea of people from her caste to run errands for people from the upper caste.
Bama’s brother is studying at an university. He narrates his own experience with Bama and tells that it is important to get educated if one wants to come out of the rut of untouchability.
Reading With Insight
Question 1: The two accounts that you read above are based in two distant cultures. What is the commonality of theme found in both of them?
Answer: These two stories are based on two cultures which are different and quite distant from each other. Yet, there is a similarity in both the stories. In the first story (about native Indians in America), the native Indians suffer discrimination at the hands of white Americans. The Indians are subjected to all sorts of abuse. Some of the directives they are forced to obey are attempted at killing their identities and souls.
In the second story (about Dalits in India), the dalits have to face various discriminations at the hands of upper caste people. They are not allowed to touch a person from the upper caste because their touch is considered to be impure.
In both the stories, the main protagonists decide to take up cudgels against indiscrimination and try to resist the well-entrenched system.
Question 2: It may take a long time for oppression to be resisted, but the seeds of rebellion are sowed early in life. Do you agree that injustice in any form cannot escape being noticed even by children?
Answer: Children are quite inquisitive and tend to notice and understand their environment. There is a perception that children only understand and enjoy nice things in life. But reality is different. Apart from appreciating nice things in life, children also notice whatever bad is going around them. The story of Bama gives a good example of this. While going through the bazaar, she takes longer time than usual because she devours every entertaining site the bazaar has to offer. While doing so, she does not shut her eyes from the harsh realities of life. Her observation and resultant displeasure on seeing an elderly from her caste carrying the packet of vadai shows this.
Question 3: Bama’s experience is that of a victim of the caste system. What kind of discrimination does Zitkala-Sa’s experience depict? What are their responses to their respective situations?
Answer: Ztikala-Sa experiences the systematic decimation of her people and her culture at the hands of the white Americans. Bama is probably too young to resist but she is restless once she understands about discrimination against her people. Her brother tries to sow the seeds of resistance in her.
Zitkala-Sa is mature enough to try resistance. In spite of advice of caution from other people, Zitkala-Sa decides to resist the attempt at killing her cultural identity.